Martin Luther King Jr., James Bevel, Rosa Parks, and other activists in the American civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, used civil disobedience techniques. Among the most notable civil disobedience events in the U.S. occurred when Parks refused to move on the bus when a white man tried to take her seat.
The definition of civil disobedience is “breaking laws, usually in a non-violent way, as part of a protest” against laws deemed unfair or that infringe on human rights. Remembering these famous examples of civil disobedience can give the world hope that change is possible, but not guaranteed, through peaceful means. The movement Yo No Coopero Con La Dictadura ("I Do Not Cooperate with the Dictatorship"), commonly called Yo No ("Not I" or "I don't") for short, is a civil disobedience campaign against the government in Cuba. The campaign utilizes the slogan "I do want change," and is articulated in six fundamental points: "I do not repudiate, I do not assist, I do not snitch, I do not follow, I do not cooperate, and I do not repress." Furthermore, as a symbolic gesture of non-cooperation with the Cuban regime, members of the organization cross their arms over their chests.
Multiple artists, such as Lissette Álvarez, Amaury Gutiérrez, Willy Chirino, Jon Secada, Paquito D'Rivera and Boncó Quiñongo, have declared their support for the movement.
Ladies in White is a group of wives, mothers, and sisters of imprisoned Cuban dissidents, who have engaged in peaceful civil disobedience in order to seek the release of their relatives, whom they allege are political prisoners. Ladies in White jointly won the European Union's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
